And here I've been blaming the media for not accurately reporting the facts. Even the Fox Factor can't explain this:
ROCHESTER, N.Y., April 21 -- A new Harris Poll finds that public perceptions of the facts that led up to the invasion of Iraq remain almost unchanged in spite of a barrage of media reports that might have changed them. For example:
-- A 51% to 38% majority continues to believe that "Iraq actually had weapons of mass destruction," virtually unchanged since February.
-- A 49% to 36% plurality of all adults continues to believe that "clear evidence that Iraq was supporting Al Qaeda has been found." These numbers have scarcely changed since June 2003.
-- A 51% to 43% plurality continues to believe that "intelligence given before the war to President Bush by the CIA and others about Iraqi's weapons of mass destruction" was "completely" or "somewhat" accurate. In February a 50% to 45% plurality believed this.
-- While a 43% plurality believes that the "U.S. government deliberately exaggerated the reports of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to increase support for war," a 50% plurality (also virtually unchanged over the last eight months) continues to believe that the government "tried to present the information accurately."
????!!! Some possible explanations:
1. Newton's fourth law: An American mind will continue on in its initial state of ignorance unless acted on by a REALLY BIG news article
2. Deep naivete: Our Leaders did it, and it couldn't really be that they didn't have any good reason for doing it. They're Our Leaders, after all: Smart and Good and Well-informed. Plus America's the Best.
3. Wishful thinking: Oh my god, what a disaster. They had a good reason, they had a good reason, they had a good reason...
4. Telephone: I heard it through the grapevine...
5. Nothing in, garbage out.
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